The original equipment rear bumpers now received on pickup trucks, vans, and like vehicles, may be an attractive chrome "dress" bumper or a lightweight "work" bumper provided with a flat checkered top area and a recessed center section for mounting the vehicle license plate and that also serves to support a ball type trailer hitch. Most vehicles of this type designed for work vehicles come equipped with the latter type while many prefer the chrome "dress" type. The lightweight work-type bumpers are designed to accommodate only lightweight trailers and do not have storage compartments built therein. The dress-type bumpers are attractive in appearance but many vehicle owners prefer to customize their vehicles by replacing various original equipment, including bumpers, with more decorative, and sometimes more useful, paraphernalia. Likewise, owners of work-type pickup trucks and vans may have a need for more durable and heavy weight bumper assemblies to accomplish the work tasks desired. Combination storage bumper-trailer hitch assemblies are known but most are unattractive or cumbersome in appearance, difficult to attach to the vehicle, and expensive to manufacture. The present invention is intended to appeal to both the owners of dress-type pickup and van vehicles as well as to the owners of work-type pickup and van vehicles.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heavy duty trailer hitch and storage bumper combination that is inexpensive to manufacture and may be provided in kit form as a replacement for original equipment bumpers on pickup trucks, vans, and like vehicles.
Another object of the present invention is a combination trailer hitch and storage bumper that is attractive in appearance and formed of durable long-lasting materials.
A further object of the present invention is a trailer hitch and storage bumper combination wherein two separate water-tight storage compartments form part of the bumper assembly.
An additional object of the present invention is the provision of a water drain channel disposed adjacent the top edge of the storage compartments of a storage bumper assembly.
A further object of the present invention is a kit for replacing original equipment vehicle bumpers with an attractive vehicle bumper that has a pair of water-tight storage compartments therein.